Screening an individual returns unrelated and no exact match

Bokang

When screening an individual via POST cases?screen=SYNC against a group configured for PEP + Sanctions, the response returns candidates whose names don't match the submitted name - and the actual person I'm searching does not appear in the results at all.

• Submitted name: John Doe
• Returned candidates:
  • Jon Doer (nationality A, DOB 1958-10-08) — matchScore ~87
  • Johannes Doerr (nationality B) — matchScore ~86
• No candidate for John Doe himself, despite him being a real, publicly listed individual.
  

What I need to understand:

• Why the actual submitted name doesn't appear in the results — is John Doe not in the World-Check database, or is he in the database but scoring below the returned candidates?
• Whether there's a way to know from the response whether "no candidate matches the submitted name closely" is because the person isn't listed vs. because the threshold filtered them out.
• What the recommended approach is to reduce false positives (secondary fields, higher minimum score, etc.) without accidentally suppressing genuine matches.

judith.pillado01

Hello @Bokang - thank you for reaching out to us!

World-Check One uses fuzzy matching to find close matches against the database. The absence of "John Doe" in results could mean either:

1. he's not in the World-Check database, or
2. his record exists but is being filtered out. The API response doesn't explicitly distinguish between these scenarios.

Additionally, your group's configuration and auto-resolution settings significantly impact results. Key factors include:

• Name Match Threshold: Configured via Admin > Groups > World-Check Settings. Candidates below this threshold won't appear.
• Auto-Resolution Settings: If you've enabled "Remove from results," matches with mismatched secondary identifiers are automatically filtered out, which could suppress genuine matches.

The recommended approach here would be:

1. Use secondary identifiers strategically (DOB, nationality, country location, etc.) — these increase match strength for true matches but don't affect the matchScore itself; they only flag whether fields matched.
2. Review your auto-resolution rules — ensure "Remove from results" isn't overly aggressive for your risk profile.
3. Check your Name Match Threshold — verify it's appropriately calibrated for your use case.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Best regards,

Judy